Oscillations of Dirac and Majorana neutrinos in matter and a magnetic field

Abstract

We study the evolution of massive mixed Dirac and Majorana neutrinos in matter under the influence of a transversal magnetic field. The analysis is based on relativistic quantum mechanics. We solve exactly the evolution equation for relativistic neutrinos, find the neutrino wave functions, and calculate the transition probability for spin-flavor oscillations. We analyze the dependence of the transition probability on the external fields and compare the cases of Dirac and Majorana neutrinos. The evolution of Majorana particles in vacuum is also studied and correction terms to the standard oscillation formula are derived and discussed. As a possible application of our results we discuss the spin-flavor transitions in supernovae.

RevTeX4, 15 pages, 4 eps figures. The paper was significantly revised; 17 references were added, many misprints throughout the text were corrected. The variant to be published in Phys. Rev. D

References in corpus (6)

• Producing ultra-strong magnetic fields in neutron star mergers
• Evolution of Mixed Dirac Particles Interacting with an External Magnetic Field
• Neutrino oscillations in matter and in twisting magnetic fields
• SNO+: predictions from standard solar models and spin flavour precession
• Neutrino flavor oscillations in background matter
• Evolution of Mixed Particles Interacting with Classical Sources

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Chiral oscillations in the non-relativistic regime
• Prospects for Neutrino Spin Coherence in Supernovae
• Quantum field theory treatment of neutrino flavor oscillations in matter